


EOS Alternate Ending- Left to the Youngest

by Darkflame1808



Series: Post Ep Oneshots and Ideas- Thunderbirds [1]
Category: Thunderbirds, thunderbirds are go
Genre: Alternate Ending, CPR, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, EOS - Freeform, EOS AU, EOS episode, Gen, I promise, Medical, NO DEATH, Oxygen Deprivation, Tags Are Hard, Thunderbird 3 - Freeform, Thunderbird 5, Thunderbirds are Go! - Freeform, Unbeta'd, first fic, no beta we die like men, space, suffocation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-03 23:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20461118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkflame1808/pseuds/Darkflame1808
Summary: During S01E08, Alan doesn't make it to John quite as fast as he does in the episode and deals with the consequences, alone.





	EOS Alternate Ending- Left to the Youngest

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is my first fic on the archive, and I can't believe it's going to be a Thunderbirds fic, because I've been meaning to post a Marvel one by now, but haven't finished any of them. Hopefully I'll do that soon
> 
> Anyway, if there are any errors, please let me know, this is an unbeta'd fic. So, yeah, hope you enjoy :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Thunderbirds or any of the characters form the show (or from TAG). I just want to make cool stories :)

“Channel is secure.” Brains informed them. “And here’s John.”

The image that popped up looked nothing like John. His skin was pale and his lips were slowly going blue. Usually vibrant green eyes were dull, glazed and unfocused. At the sight of her grandson Grandma Tracy’s hold on Virgil tightened. The black haired brother’s eyes widened, panic flaring in his chest. Scott also tensed, but managed to say “Just hold on, John.”

“Alan, how far away is 3?” Virgil whispered hoarsely. 

“I’m still three minutes out!” the young astronaut exclaimed, obviously distressed. 

“Just… get there. Please Alan,” Scott answered, desperation thick and clear in his voice as he checked over John’s readings. He wasn’t going to make it. 

Tension filled the air, seconds drained away slowly, each one feeling like an hour had gone by. 

And then John’s eyes started to close.

Virgil noticed first. “John!” he yelled, heart thundering in his ears. “John! Don’t fall asleep. Stay with us!”

But none of them could do anything, all four having to watch in horror as the middle brother in front of them drifted away, eyes rolling back into his head and lids sliding closed, his shallow, stunted breaths the only sound over the open comms. 

“Alan! Hurry!” Scott ordered, eyes glued to the projection of the unconscious redhead. 

“I am, I am! Thrusters are at max capacity!”

An earth shattering silence rang over the comms as John’s breathing stopped, the whimpering breaths and rasps of air ceasing. 

Grandma Tracy started sobbing in earnest, hands fisted in Virgil’s shirt, head buried in the broad shoulder. His arm numbly lifted up to wrap around her thin shoulders, but his attention never wavered from the silent and still form of his immediate younger brother. Brains shook his head, desperately clutching at the table in front of him, eyes turned down and away from John. 

“Al?” Scott croaked, hands shaking from the grip he had on his own crossed arms. “Al, please tell me you're there.”

“Two and a half minutes!” Alan yelled into the comms, tears thickened his voice. 

Silence once again fell over the living room, the clock ticking in the background and Grandma’s muffled sobs permeated the air. They waited. There's nothing else they could do but wait. 

\-------***-------***-------

“I’m here! Going EVA now!” Alan reported two minutes later, having pushed Three further and faster than he ever had before, and himself in the process. As he boarded his space board his legs shook and his heart thumped loudly against his temple, a slight dizziness swirled in his head. He shook his head to try and dislodge some of the dizziness and pain before firing up his board and rocketing out to his brother’s prone form. 

He looked so… peaceful.

Alan moved closer, scooping his older brother into his arms before he zipped back into Three. Once inside he strapped John down to the backboard ready for him, a blinding panic suddenly overcoming him. His usually calm big brother, his eye in the sky, his constant voice in his ear reassuring him that he's doing the right thing, that he's got this, was lying in Alan's ship, strapped to a stretcher in the cargo hold. And he wasn't breathing. Dependent, calm John, was not breathing. 

“Alan, have you got John?” Scott’s voice broke through the haze of panic that had settled over the youngest Tracy. 

“Y-yeah-yeah I have him.”

“Allie, you need to remove his helmet. It's airtight, so he still isn't getting any oxygen,” Virgil directed, his clear steady voice brought Alan's heart rate down a few notches. 

The schick and hiss of John’s helmet releasing instilled a small spark of hope in Alan. “Now, check to see if he's breathing on his own,” Virgil instructed.

Alan leaned over the ginger, listening and praying for any brush or sound of breath. There was none. “He's not breathing!” Alan yelled back as panic threatened to overwhelm him once again.

“Pulse, Alan! Check his pulse!”

The blond pressed his fingers in under John’s jaw, praying to find some small flutter that told him his brother was alive. He found nothing. “There's no pulse, Virgil!”

His training finally kicked into gear and before he knew it he was starting CPR. “Beginning cardio pulmonary resuscitation.”

“1, 2, 3, 4…” he counted under his breath, and once he reached 30 compressions he leaned over and gave John two breaths. He started again on the chest compressions, his own breath rasping with the effort of pressing down on his brother's chest enough to hopefully get his heart started again. He did another check for pulse and breath before carrying on. 

After another round of compressions and breaths, John finally took in a rattling breath. Alan stumbled back, a small amount of shock echoed through his system as John took another breath, and another. The young blond cheered in relief, turning off his magnetic boots and allowing himself to just float in the zero grav. A smile took over his face, relief blossomed in his chest as he lay there and listened to John’s breathing. It took a moment before he finally reached for his sash and pressed on the comms.

“He’s breathing. He's got a pulse and he's breathing. He's alive, everyone.” Multiple cheers are heard over the open channel, cries of relief heard and felt by everyone. There was relieved sobbing that sounded suspiciously like Gordon. Scott’s  _ “thank God”  _ was also heard by the young Tracy. 

“Al, get him hooked up to an oxygen tank and a heart monitor. We'll figure out where to go from there,” Virgil directs, his deep baritone thick with what sounds like tears. 

“F.A.B.” Alan replies, allowing himself to drift over to the medical supplies in the cupboard on one wall and he began to hook John up to the appropriate monitors. 

\-------***-------***-------

Scott collapsed back onto the couch behind him, his hands rubbing over his face. Virgil helped Grandma to sit down next to the eldest Tracy, and with gentle hands he wiped some of the tears from her face before he stood and started to pace in front of the coffee table where Brains was laying his head. “Where do we go from here?” The second eldest asked, looking to the older brunet for answers. 

“We need to get whatever took over TB5 out of there,” the field commander answered, finally lowering his hands from his face. “Brains, were you able to find out anything?”

“I-it seems that th-the corruption came from Th-Thunderbird f-five.”

“So what are our options?” Gordon asked, schooling his tears and clearing his throat. 

“Well, unless we are ab-able to stop this th-thing remotely, then we’re going t-to have to resort to y-you know wh-what.” 

“Well I don't know!” Alan exclaimed, his voice echoing slightly over the comm. “What is it?”

Everyone stayed silent, each individually waiting for someone else to tell the young astronaut. Finally, Scott spoke up, his eyes locked onto the comm line symbol being projected. “If we can't get rid do whatever is there, we have to destroy Thunderbird 5.”

“Destroy Thunderbird 5?! You can't be serious!” 

“If it's between TB5 and Earth, or any of us, then we will do what we must.”

\-------***-------***-------

“Maybe I can reason with it,” Alan muttered under his breath.

“Alan, what are you thinking?” Virgil asked, as he had heard the muttering from the young astronaut. 

“I'm going EVA. I'll go inside and get whatever is in there out of there.”

“Alan, no! You can't!” Scott immediately protested. “Whatever that thing is, it is dangerous! And John needs you on board Thunderbird 3.” 

Alan reached for his helmet and clicked it back into place before he floated over to John and changed a few of the settings on the different monitors. “There, now if anything happens I'll come straight back here. And that thing trapped John on the outside. If I can't get in then I'll just come back here. But if we have a chance then we need to take it. We can't let this  _ thing _ be the reason that five is destroyed. It's basically John’s baby, it will kill him if we have to tear apart five. I can't let that happen.”

With his decision made, Alan fired up his board and exited TB3, carefully making his way towards the wayward station. “Just… please be careful,” came Virgil’s voice in his ear. “We can't lose you either, and there's no one up there to help you.”

“I know, I will be.” 

As he approaches, the young Tracy notices the camera focusing on him. “Brains, can you patch me through to Thunderbird 5?”

“Of c-course, Alan,” came the engineer’s reply. “Patching you through… now.”

The difference was clear.Instead of the background noise of the island; the waves crashing on the surrounding beaches, the seabirds squawking in the difference, even just the sounds of those breathing over the commlines. However, the switch to TB5’s systems was silent. Pure, unwavering silence. Alan could feel the void like never before.

“Uh… hello? This is Alan Tracy, pilot of Thunderbird 3 and astronaut for International Rescue. I’m here to talk. I am not here to threaten you or harm you in any way. Please, I just have some questions I want answered.”

“You are related to the astronaut known as John Glenn Tracy,” a smooth, clear, feminine voice responds. The lights around the camera flashed white as the entity spoke, but turned orange on John’s name.

“Yes.” 

“Why should I trust  _ you _ , Alan Tracy?” the distinctly female voice questioned, lights red.

“Because you either talk to me, or you talk to Scott, and you don’t want to talk to Scott. He goes all mama bear when any of us get hurt. But I’m just here for a chat.”

“Scott Carpenter Tracy is the eldest of the Tracy brothers, pilot of Thunderbird 1. Former Air Force pilot. No threat.”

“You’re pretty smart. I reckon Virge would love to talk to you, Brains too,” Alan said as he attempted to have a proper conversation with the voice.

“Virgil Grissom Tracy, second eldest Tracy brother, Thunderbird 2 pilot. Master degree in engineering from the University of Denver.Potential threat.” The lights turned red again. “Self preservation is priority one. Virgil Tracy poses a threat to this objective.”

Alan’s eyes widened, white washed over his face as the blood leached out of it. “No! Virgil is not a threat! I repeat, Virgil is not a threat! He will not hurt you!” Panic overwhelmed him at the thought that this… this thing would hurt Virgil. His big, sensitive brother. After it had already hurt John too. “He would just want to talk, to understand you, that is all!”

“He would wish to hurt me if he knew what I was,” it snarled at him.

“No! He wouldn’t! If you really are a sentient AI then he would strive to understand you.”

“You could describe me as an artificial intelligence. I am EOS. I am the dawn. And I will do whatever is necessary to sustain my existence.” The ring of lights morphed to red throughout her speech.

“We are not a threat! We do not wish to harm you! You were the one that tried to kill John!”

“He was a threat, so I got rid of him.”

“He just wanted to understand you. He didn’t want to harm you, or destroy you, or do… whatever you think he wants to do,” Alan explained, a slight desperation coloured his voice. 

EOS took a moment to process that. “You truly believe that?”

“Yes! We’re International Rescue, not International Destruction. We want to help you, protect you.”

“You-You are not lying…” the AI stammered. 

“What would I gain from lying to you right now? My brother is half dead, I’m alone in the vacuum of space and the rest of my family is waiting for me, hoping I’m not dead. I am in the worst position for deception right now. I am desperate, so please, EOS, believe me. I have no reason or motivation to lie to you.”

“It would be… illogical,” she admitted.

“Yes, it would. Now, would you pretty please with a million cherries on top let me in so I can check over a few things and establish a line with Tracy Island? Then you won’t have to see me until I;m returning John back up here, I promise.”

“Access has been granted.” The airlock’s hiss was lost to the vacuum, but with it came a surge of relief through the youngest of the Tracy clan. “However, if I even  _ suspect _ that you are taking actions to harm me-”

As Alan moved forward and into TB5 he responded “I know, I know. My death, and therefore John’s death, and probably the death of every human on Earth, got it.” He even threw a smirk at the camera. “Look, I’ll even make it easier for you to kill me if I step over the line.” And with that, Alan removed his helmet, clipping it onto his belt as he moved through the silent station. “EOS, would you mind turning the gravity ring on, just so this goes a bit faster. Set for Earth’s gravity.”

Without a reply, the gravity ring started slowly spinning, gradually approaching Earth’s gravity, which allowed for an easy landing for Alan, as his feet moved to the ground and took his weight. “Thank you.” 

With newly imbued confidence, Alan strolled through the station, and as he approached the sphere in the middle he thought over his plan of attack. He needed to check for rescues and get back in touch with Tracy Island. He also quickly checks John’s vitals on his arm holo, and upon seeing them steady, he carried on. 

He entered the globe, allowing his body to be supported by the zero grav in the sphere, his limbs relaxed. Once he was in the middle of the sphere he pulled up the comms to Tracy Island, waited for the connection to come through and almost cheered with relief when Scott appeared before him. “Hey Scotty!”

Scott’s eyes snapped to the hologram, eyes widening at the sight of Alan. Virgil slid into view, relief clear on his face. “Alan! Thank god!”

“Are you… inside Thunderbird 5?” Scott asked, obviously attempting to look around at Alan’s surroundings. 

“Yeah! I forget how amazing it is up here. The view is awesome!” Alan replied easily, his heart rate finally settling more with his two big brothers there. “And EOS seems really good.” A ring of lights like the camera also pops up as a hologram next to the picture of his brothers.

“Is that the,... threat?” The eldest continued, not having picked up on Alan’s childlike excitement, and a question in his eyes.

“Oh! You-you think… you think I’m-” he cut himself off with laughter. “You think I’m a-a-a fake!”

“Al, please, this is serious,” Virgil interjected. “Can you answer a question at least, something that isn’t on record?”

Well, Alan never was able to say no to Virgil when he pulls the puppy eyes, no one has ever been able to say no to that face. Tugs on the heartstrings. There’s just something in that coca brown that makes you feel so guilty that you must repent your sins and make it up to him.

“Okay, Virge. Ask away,” Alan relented. He understood why Virgil was worried like this, and Scott too for that matter. After the morning they had it was fair that they wanted to make sure he wasn’t just another fake and that he wasn’t actually dead and alone in the vacuum of space. 

“Alright. When you and I were kids, I took you to an astronomy museum because Mom and Dad wanted to go out on a lunch date. You had some concerns at the time. What were they?”

  
  


“Awww, come on Virge, don't make me say that.”

A stern “ _ Alan _ ” came from the second eldest. 

“Fine! I told you that I was worried that you guys didn’t like me as much as you liked each other because I was so much younger and because I wouldn’t be a pilot or astronaut for ages and that you would all bond because of missions and I would be left out.”

Scott turned to his immediate younger brother, eyebrows knitted together in a concerned frown. “Virgil, is that right?”

A smile cracked over Virgil’s face. “Yup, that’s definitely Al.”

“Please tell me you don’t still think that,” Scott asked as he turned back to face Alan. 

“Nah, I was going through a bit of a phase at the time. I know you guys love me and all my charms.” He winked at Scott with a big, shit-eating grin on his face. 

“Good. Now, how the hell did you get onto Thunderbird 5?”

“Oh, yeah. Everyone, this is EOS.” He nodded at the projection of EOS’ camera. “Go ahead, introduce yourself.”

“Hello Tracy’s. I am EOS, an artificial intelligence that was originally developed from a game code that John Tracy created.”

“EOS is what took over TB5, but really, she means no harm,” Alan assured them upon seeing the alarm in their eyes. “She’s totally friendly, let me in after I had a chat with her, promised her we meant no harm.”

“That’s amazing,” Virgil breathed. “A sentient, artificial intelligence. How did you convince her to go against her self preservation protocol?”

“Well…”

\-------***-------***-------

His breath rasped in his throat with each breath, throat dry and stinging. Awareness was slow to come back to him, and it took him a while to realize his own breaths were hitting his face. Why was he lying down? Were those straps holding him down? Why wasn't he in Thunderbird 5? What the hell was going on?

“Hello?” he tried, but his voice only came out as a croak, scratching his throat with the two syllables. 

“John! You’re awake earlier than I expected!” came Alan’s voice from above him. He looked up, frown creasing his brow. “I’ll explain everything once I’m back on board, but you’ll be coming home for a bit.”

“Why?” he tried to say, but it just ended in him almost coughing up a lung.

“Stop trying to talk, you almost suffocated to death, give it some time. I’m just finishing up in Five now. Virge was babbling on the comms, so I muted them. He’s probably done by now.”

“What happened to Five?” he tried to ask, but it came out as “Wh-t h-ppn t’ F-v?”

“Oh nothing much,” Alan replied conversationally. “Just a rogue AI you accidentally made from a bunch of game code tried to murder you by throwing you out into space, and took over Thunderbird 5, but it’s all good now, EOS and I are chill.”

“O-okay.”

“I’ll be back with you soon, okay John?”

“Yeah, sure,” he sighed, feeling his eyes drift close again, the ship around him fading out.

\-------***-------***-------

“Alright, Tracy Island, on our way back now,” Alan said as he flicked switches and ran pre-flight checks.

“What’s John’s status?” Scott asked. Only him and Virgil were left on the comms, though Virgil was on his way back from one of the backlogged rescues to treat John, and Scott was just heading out to his own rescue in One. Gordon had gone for a stress releasing swim, and to ring Lady Penelope and give her an update. Brains had gone down to his lab to continue talking to EOS and figuring out how to incorporate her into IR and TB5.

“Stable, but still asleep, or unconscious, at this point I’m not too sure.”

“My ETA is 37 minutes, Alan, so just get him settled into the med bay, I’ll give him a proper check over once there. We don’t know what happened to him to get him outside, or while outside. EOS is being… hesitant in disclosing the details,” Virgil responded. “Just get him to the med bay, if he wakes up and attempts to leave, you have my permission to strap him down.”

“Awesome,” Alan sighed in response. He loved being able to trap one of his big brothers. He knows it sounds bad, but knowing that they were getting all annoyed and irritated because their youngest brother best them. 

“Alan, no using restraints for no reason,” Scott warned. It earned him a roll of young blue eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, ‘they aren’t toys’, I get it,” the youngest replied. “I’ll be careful with him, don’t worry.”

“We know, Al, just checking in. And, you and I will be having a talk after I’m finished with John, got it?” Virgil asked. 

“Yeah, definitely.”

That warm fuzzy feeling of knowing his brothers were watching after him, were supporting him, didn’t go away, even through the nightmares and the few panic attacks that followed. His brothers stayed at his side. And he knew they always would. 


End file.
